GovTech Global Forum: Governance in the Digital Era

Mr. Herrera, a Mexican National, has extensive experience in governance, as a practitioner and from the development and academic perspectives. He joined the World Bank in 2010 as Senior Public Sector Management Specialist in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region. He held various positions in the Bank including as Sector Manager in LAC, Practice Manager in Governance Global Practice for the LAC and East Asia and the Pacific regions in the Global Unit before leaving the World Bank Group in 2018. Between 2018 and 2021 he has held leadership positions in the Government of Mexico as Co-Head of the Finance Team in Presidential Transition Team, Deputy Finance Minister and, most recently, as Minister of Finance and Public Credit.

As Global Director for Governance, Mr. Herrera’s priorities include leading the formulation of strategy and engagement of the Bank’s work on public institutions and country-level governance, especially in fragile, conflict and violent settings; maximizing the effectiveness of operational support for public financial management and public procurement; fostering excellence in the Governance Practice’s work on public sector administration and operational support for legal and judicial reforms. Mr. Herrera has also taught Monetary and Banking and Macro and Microeconomics at both El Colegio de Mexico and New York University where he completed his doctoral studies in Economics.

Roby Senderowitsch currently serves as the Practice Manager in the World Bank’s Governance Global Practice. Previously he has held various positions, including Manager for Leadership, Learning & Innovation; Manager of the Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA); and Country Manager in the Dominican Republic. His work in the Bank included a strong focus on political economy analysis, building coalitions for change, anti-corruption, and performance-based management of public institutions. He has been a lecturer in Human Resource management in nonprofit organizations, as well as director of educational programs and community development and HR management in the private sector.

Roby’s publications include “Building Effective, Accountable, and Inclusive Institutions in Europe and Central Asia,” “Democratic Governance in Mexico: Beyond State Capture and Social Polarization” (with Yasuhiko Matsuda), “Performance Informed Budgeting and Trust in Government” (with Nick Manning and others), and “From the International Financial Crisis to Inclusive Growth in the Dominican Republic.” Senderowitsch holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Buenos Aires and a Masters in Policy Studies, Public Administration/Nonprofit Management from the Johns Hopkins University.

Carlos Felipe Jaramillo is the World Bank Vice President for the Latin America and the Caribbean Region, overseeing Bank relations with 31 countries and a portfolio of ongoing projects, technical assistance and grants of almost US$32 billion. Under his leadership, the Bank’s operations in the region focus on fueling growth, reducing poverty, supporting equality and protecting the environment.

Jaramillo was previously the World Bank country director for Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia and Uganda, based in Nairobi. There he managed an operational portfolio of more than 80 projects representing a total investment of more than US$12 billion to help countries share and apply innovative knowledge and solutions to the challenges they face.

Prior to his role in Africa, Jaramillo was the senior director of the World Bank Group’s Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment Global Practice (MTI), where he led a global team of more than 450 economists. Since joining the World Bank in 2002, he has also served two terms as country director in the Latin America and Caribbean Region.

Before joining the Bank, Jaramillo was a public servant in the Government of Colombia, holding offices in the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank and the Ministry of Trade. Jaramillo holds an M.A. and a Ph. D. in development economics from Stanford University. He has taught at the Department of Economics of the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogota and at the University of Maryland, College Park. 

Dominique Favre, born in 1971, is a Swiss Ambassador currently serving as Executive Director at the World Bank Group in Washington DC, representing the constituency of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Poland, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Switzerland. Before joining the World Bank, he was Deputy Permanent Representative and Head of Sustainable Development and Humanitarian Affairs at the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations in New York from 2017 to 2020. During this time, he was elected as Vice-President of the Executive Board of UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS in 2018, and as Vice-President of the UNICEF Board in 2020.

From 2013 to 2017, Dominique Favre served as Chief of Staff for Regional Cooperation, and then as Deputy Head of Global Cooperation at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in Bern. As such, he was actively involved, in conjunction with the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, in Switzerland’s work in the World Bank Group and other international financial institutions. 

Mário Campolargo earned a degree in Electrotechnical Engineering from the University of Coimbra, a Master's in Computer Science from Imperial College London, and postgraduate degrees in Management and European Studies. He joined the European Commission in 1990, holding positions including Head of Unit at DG Information Society, Director of Emerging Technologies and Infrastructures at DG CONNECT, and Deputy Director General and Director General of DIGIT. Mário contributed significantly to European initiatives in Interoperability, the COVID digital certificate, and the modernization of European Public Administration. In March 2022, he became the Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Administrative Modernisation in the Portuguese Government.

Nike, a Nigerian citizen, joined the World Bank in 2001 and is now a Practice Manager in the Governance Global Practice. She leads a Global Unit working across all regions, focusing on core governance themes such as procurement, public expenditure, financial accountability, public investment management, domestic resource mobilization, governance of state-owned enterprises, corporate financial reporting, governance of human capital and development, infrastructure, mainstreaming governance in climate, and fiduciary assurance. Nike previously managed the GOVTECH global agenda and has extensive experience working in international development, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected regions. Before the World Bank, she spent 11 years at Ernst & Young in Nigeria. Nike holds an MSc in Public Policy and Management from the University of London, an MSc in Business Administration, a BSc in Economics from the University of Ibadan, and a Public Leadership Credential from Harvard Kennedy School.

Carlos Santiso has devoted his career to improving lives through better governance and digital innovation, with extensive experience in public governance and development finance. He has worked in over 40+ countries in the Americas, Africa, and Europe. Carlos currently heads the Division on Digital, Innovative, and Open Government at the OECD. He previously managed the governance practices of the Development Bank of Latin America, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the African Development Bank. He also worked in government in Britain’s international development ministry and France’s Prime Minister’s office. He holds a Ph.D. in political economy from Johns Hopkins University and master’s degrees in public policy from Columbia University and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques of Paris.

Since December 2021, Martin Wimmer has been working at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as Chief Digital Officer (CDO). From April 2019 to November 2021, he was Chief Digital Officer (CDO) at the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Safety (BMU).

Verena Dorner is full professor at WU Vienna. She heads the Institute for Digital Ecosystems and serves as Academic Director of the Master “Digital Economy” and Professional MBA “Digital Transformation and Data Science”. Before joining WU Vienna, she headed KD2Lab, one of the largest experimental economics labs in Europe, at KIT (Germany). Her research focuses on the interdependencies between digital (eco)systems design, AI design, and user behavior. She is currently exploring how (eco)systems design affects citizen contributions to public goods. Her work is published in journals like European Journal of Operational Research and the Journal of the Association of Information Systems.

Bunmi is Senior Program Officer, Digital Capabilities at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he is responsible for managing the program to implement a "digital lab" model to strengthen public-sector capability for digital reforms and co-create digital solutions to improve development outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa, with an initial focus on Nigeria.

Prior to joining the foundation, Bunmi served as Special Adviser on ICT for the former Nigerian Minister for Communications Technology from 2011 to 2015, implementing national ICT policy, Open Government Partnership (OGP), and e-government programs within MDAs. He was a former Systems Integration and Technology manager at Accenture.

Luanna is the Digital Government Deputy Secretary of Brazil. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Brasília and Specialist in Public Policy and Government Management since 2006, Luanna has been working in the innovation and digital technologies sector since 2013. Is currently acting as Digital Government Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services. In 2020, won the Public Spirit Award in the Digital Government category.

Abiyot Bayou (Ph.D.) is Leading the Digital Transformation Program Office at the Ethiopian Ministry of Innovation and Technology. He has received his Ph.D. in Information and Telecommunication Technology Management from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, a Post Graduate Diploma in Knowledge Economy Leadership from Dublin City University, and an MSC & BSC in Information Science from Addis Ababa University. He has also received various professional Certifications, including Certificates in Digital Financial Management from Digital Frontier Institute; Innovation & Leadership from Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government;  Certificate in Project Management from NTTP Japan.

Before his current position, Abiyot served as Director of the Electronic Government Directorate under the former Ethiopian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. He has led and participated in drafting and implementing various National Digital Strategies and policies, including e-Government Strategy & Digital Transformation Strategy. He has also led several National IT projects, including the Expansion of the Ethiopian Government Network Infrastructure and the National Electronic Service Portal Deployment.

Rob Worthington is a Senior Business Analyst with Kwantu.  He has 18 years of experience designing and architecting data management systems for social accountability, citizen engagement, social protection, and service delivery programs.

His current work focuses on the intersection between government service delivery and social accountability processes that improve transparency, hold the government accountable, monitor performance, and guide prioritization.

His experience includes supporting international NGOs, governments, the World Bank, and the United Nations with diagnostic studies, technology roadmaps, technology ecosystem analysis, political economy analysis, prototyping and piloting targeted technology interventions, and supporting the rollout and scale-up to national scale.

Cheri-Leigh Erasmus is the Global Director of Learning at the Accountability Lab, a nonprofit organization aimed at making governance work for people by supporting active citizens, responsible leaders, and accountable institutions. She supports Accountability Lab’s learning and impact in 12 African, South Asia and Latin American countries. She’s conceptualized and implemented knowledge, skills, and network-building curricula for public service and civil society reformers. Cheri-Leigh is committed to finding new ways of using citizen-generated data to strengthen civic participation, especially related to the increased inclusion of traditionally marginalized groups.  She currently co-chairs the Steering Committee of the Transparency, Accountability, and Participation (TAP) Network. 

Kamila Gasinska is a strategic partnerships and innovation professional, currently working as the Strategic Partnerships Lead at The GovTech Lab Lithuania (Innovation Agency Lithuania). The GovTech Lab team works in the public sector. It helps governmental institutions work with innovative startups and companies to solve the most pressing social and public sector challenges. She joined the team in early 2020 after implementing a few successful projects in the Ministry of Education, Science, and Sports of Lithuania, focusing on tech solutions to fight bullying at Lithuanian schools. Since then, Kamila has been at the forefront of different national and international GovTech initiatives, working closely with government officials and other public and private stakeholders. Her passion for public sector transformation is driven by her deep interest in improving the quality of services offered to citizens. As a trained psychologist, she is committed to changing the mindset of public servants to achieve this goal.

Carlos is the Associate Director of Innovation at the MIT Governance Lab [GOV/LAB], where he works at the convergence of engineering design, technology, and political behavioral science to co-develop tech-enabled governance solutions with both governments and non-governmental partners. Previously, Carlos worked at MIT Solve, an initiative of the President of MIT to solve the world’s greatest challenges through technology. At Solve, Carlos engaged leading voices from academia, the private and public sectors, and nonprofit organizations to magnify the impact of social impact entrepreneurs. Before joining Solve, Carlos worked for the United Nations World Food Programme, redesigning humanitarian interventions through a data and community-first approach in refugee camps, tribal areas, and other complex environments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Cem Dener is a Lead Governance Specialist in the Governance Global Practice of the World Bank Group. He contributed to the modernization of public financial management information systems and digital government programs in more than 60 countries over the past two decades. He has extensive system design and application development experience gained in private and public sector projects.

He is one of the Global Leads for GovTech and the Coordinator of the Financial Management Information Systems Community of Practice. He represents the World Bank Group in regional and international events to share and discuss experiences and trends in digital governance, transition to a whole-of-government approach, and open-source software and innovative solutions in the public sector. He holds BSME degree from Middle East Technical University in Türkiye, an M.Sc. from Cranfield Institute of Technology in the U.K., and a Ph.D. from Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium.

Charlie Anderson joined Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2017, leading the UK Justice & Public Safety business. Based in London, Charlie now leads the Intergovernmental Organizations team responsible for growing the business with the government, non-profit and National Security organizations globally. She advises public sector bodies on digital transformation, evangelizing how technology and innovation drive transformation based on her extensive experience in operational law enforcement.

This includes first-hand investigative skills in tackling complex data and digital transformation utilizing disruptive technologies such as cloud computing, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to enable businesses to derive intelligence from data. Charlie is passionate about enabling Inclusion, Diversity & Equity across the industry, focusing on developing digital skills with young people.

Kalpana Kochhar is Director, of Development Policy and Finance at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior to taking this position, she spent 33 years at the IMF as the Director of HR, Deputy Director in the Asia and Pacific Department and in the Strategy, Policy, and Review Department, and was the Chief Economist for the South Asia Region of the World Bank in 2010-12.

Ms. Kochhar holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Economics from Brown University and an M.A. in Economics from Delhi School of Economics in India. She has a B.A in Economics from Madras University in India.

Reyn is a lawyer-turned-digital development expert. She has a broad range of experience, from a global corporate and competition law practice to local government advocacy work, from innovative social entrepreneurship to international digital development. She brings more than 25 years of multi-disciplinary knowledge and perspective across the private, public, and non-profit sectors. Reyn’s digital development consulting work focuses on digital inclusion and bridging the gender digital divide. Reyn has led the development of the global Gender Digital Divide Index, is co-author of three USAID Digital Ecosystem Country Assessments, and has project managed diverse teams on complex projects across multiple countries and sectors throughout her career.

Mr. Sungjoo Son is the the Interior and Safety, Republic of Korea. He has worked in digital government since joining the civil service in 2007. He has diverse experience including, but not limited to, digital transformation strategy, data policy, cloud computing, application development, and digital documents. Currently, he is in charge of international cooperation regarding digital government.

Sungjoo Son holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering from the Seoul National University and a Master of Information Management and Systems (MIMS) from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mr. Lee Yongsuk is the Director General of Public Data Policy, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Republic of Korea. He has worked in government innovation and digital government since joining the civil service in 1993. He has broad experience in network, cyber security, public information and data, digital service integration, and local government management.

Currently, he is in charge of public data, data-driven administration, and open information in government. Yongsuk Lee holds a bachelor’s degree in Information & communication engineering from the Korea Aerospace University, a Master's degree in Business Administration from the University of British Columbia, and a Doctoral degree in IT Policy Management from Soongsil University.

Jasna Atanasijević, associate professor at the University of Novi Sad, Serbia. For more than 20 years, she has conducted applied research related to economic policy of developing countries. She oversaw the introduction of an evidence-based approach to policymaking and result-based management in Serbian public administration from 2014 to 2018 as the first director of the Public Policy Secretariat of the Government of Serbia. Her current research focuses on using machine learning to help combat tax evasion. She received her doctorate in economics from Sorbonne University and is presently a visiting research affiliate at Georgetown University as a Fulbright program fellow.

Amanda Clarke is Associate Professor at Carleton University’s School of Public Policy and Administration. Her research examines digital era public administration, public data governance and government-citizen relations. She is author of Opening the Government of Canada: The Federal Bureaucracy in the Digital Age and a research fellow with the Canada School of Public Service. In 2021 she was awarded a Government of Ontario Early Researcher Award, and included in Apolitical‘s list of the Top 100 Most Influential Academics in Government.

Norm Hodne is the Director of Microsoft ACTS (Advanced Cloud Transparency Services), an initiative that aims to help governments use technology to improve governance and the lives of citizens around the world. He works with Microsoft partners, open organizations, and industry thought leaders to develop anticorruption solutions that will make a difference in the lives of people around the globe by allowing more money to be used for its intended purpose; for healthcare, jobs, nutrition, infrastructure, education, and other needed services.

Zahid Hasnain, a Pakistani national, joined the World Bank in the Islamabad office in 2002. He has worked on public administration reform, digital governance, the public sector labor market, public sector productivity, public financial management, and political economy. He has done operational and analytical work in all regions of the WB, was a core member of the World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends and has published several academic papers in peer reviewed journals. He co-leads the Bureaucracy Lab and the Public Employment and Management CoP. Zahid has a BA in Physics and Government from Cornell University, a Masters in Development from the University of Cambridge, and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Chicago.

Chiara Bronchi is the Practice Manager for the Fiscal Policy and Sustainable Growth Global Unit of the World Bank Group. She leads a team of macro-fiscal economists and tax experts who promote innovation, knowledge, and data and analytics on fiscal policy, tax policy and tax administration. Chiara has over 25 years of professional experience in economics and development gained in prestigious international organizations, including the ADB, IMF, OECD and UN. Chiara holds a ….. in Economics from Bologna University and a MSc in Economics from the University College of London, and she has published on taxation and public spending. Most recently, she has co-authored an approach paper for the Conclave of Ministers of Finance on financing Human Capital Development.

Catherine Nikolovski is the Founder and Executive Director of Civic Software Foundation, a non-profit organization with the mission of creating technology and practices built on ethical data use and sustainable impact principles. Catherine advocates for digital citizen rights, sustainable climate innovation, and ethical AI governance models.

Catherine has led teams to develop dozens of open source software projects with public sector, academic, and NGO partners.  Her approach to developing technology has contributed to defining the field Context-Aware Systems, and body of work and applied methodologies clarifying embedded assumptions which can distort the structures, interpretations, and societal effects of data.

Alma Kanani is a Practice Manager in the East Asia and Pacific Region of the World Bank.  In this position she oversees the World Bank programs and partnerships on governance and institutions in China, Indonesia, East Timor, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines, Thailand and Singapore.  Prior to this position she was the Manager for the World Bank’s Global Unit on Domestic Revenue Mobilization in the World Bank’s Governance Global Practice.

She has spent the last 20 years working in different regions and corporate positions, advising and supporting client countries on fiscal policy and public finance issues, including in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, South Asia, and Latin America.  She holds a graduate degree in Economic Policy Management from Columbia University in New York.  Prior to joining the Bank, she served as the Director of the Budget Department of the Government of Albania, that was responsible for preparing and managing the national budget.

Guilherme Almeida de Almeida is a Program Director at the Secretariat for State Transformation at the Brazilian Ministry for Management and Public Service Innovation. He is a lawyer, researcher, and member of the Brazilian Senior Executive Service, with a career focused on innovation and ICT law and policies, with an emphasis on public sector innovation. He holds a J.D. from University of São Paulo (2000), and a master’s in public administration from Columbia University (2015). He has held several appointed positions at the Brazilian Presidency, Ministry of Justice and National School of Public Administration.

Joel is Chief Product Officer at Apolitical, a social learning platform for government. He previously grew and exited HealthUnlocked, the largest social network for health in the world. He has been a startup founder and has coached numerous startups, corporates, non-profits, and product managers. Joel has a Master’s degree in Philosophy, has cycled multiple 100 mile races, and last year ran a 62-mile ultra marathon.

Florin Hasler is the director of Opendata.ch in Switzerland. Together with his team, he is advocating for an open, innovative and fair society. Their tools: open knowledge and open data.

Sana Hadzic-Babacic is a Bridges Builder and European Democracy Advocate based in Luxembourg. Passionate about the power of civic innovations – CivicTech – she commits to put Luxembourg on the map of CivicTechs in Europe and co-founds in 2019 the organization ETICC (Europe Technology & Collective Intelligence for Citizens), www.eticc.org, a European Sustainable Democracy Builder that aims to promote participatory projects through the angle of CivicTech in Luxembourg & the Greater Region.

With a MS in Business Economics & Law, Sana has gained extensive experience in the investment fund industry as well as in the Luxembourgish social sector, enabling her to better understand the socio-economic aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Sensitive to the environmental cause, she believes that the environmental transition can be achieved BY and WITH citizens and commit to reinforce citizens' power to cope with climate urgencies. Sana's current work focuses on designing Collective Intelligence tools and incorporating collaborative models of governance in the trilogy of CSR, which she considers to be an essential element in reaching Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Her areas of interests include Europe, Democratic Innovations, Citizen Engagement, Sustainability, and the Western Balkans (WB6).

Victoria Kwakwa is the Regional Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa. An economist and development expert with over 30 years of experience, Dr. Kwakwa leads the Bank’s engagement with 26 countries. She oversees an active portfolio of 313 operations totaling $58 billion and an extensive program of cutting-edge analytic work, technical assistance, and policy advice.

At the core of Ms. Kwakwa’s vision is a stable, integrated and resilient region with dynamic economies and prosperous societies in which all citizens, notably women, children and youth enjoy equality of opportunity.

Under her leadership, the World Bank is providing vital support to countries as they face a series of complex, multifaceted challenges including the COVID-19 crisis, climate shocks, food- and energy-fueled inflation and rising debt levels. Her priorities include promoting private sector jobs and economic transformation, building human capital, strengthening climate resilience, agricultural productivity and food security, and improving access to critical infrastructure. Reducing the drivers of fragility and conflict, promoting gender equality and regional integration cut across all these areas of work.

Pablo Saavedra is the World Bank’s Vice President for the Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions (EFI) Global Practice. In this position, he leads the World Bank’s practice groups that work on macroeconomic analysis and policies, fiscal policy, finance, trade, investment, competitiveness, poverty, governance, and climate economics.

Saavedra, a Bolivian national, served in several positions of responsibility across the World Bank. Until recently, he was the Chief of Staff of the World Bank Group. Prior to that, he served as the Country Director for Mexico, and earlier as the Practice Manager of the Macroeconomics, Trade, and Investment unit in the Latin America and Caribbean Region. He also worked as Economic Adviser at the Country Economics department of the Operational Policy and Country Services (OPCS) Vice Presidency and was the Operations Committee (OC) Secretary. He held several positions in the EFI unit of the Europe and Central Asia Region.

He brings to the position significant leadership experience, extensive technical knowledge of EFI areas, and rich operational experience across regions. He has worked with senior policymakers in several countries on reforms related to economic growth, macroeconomics and fiscal policy, and finance.

Juergen Voegele, Ph.D., assumed the position of Vice President for Sustainable Development at the World Bank on April 1, 2020. In this role, he oversees the work of Global Practices and thematic groups that bring together the best expertise from across the World Bank Group and from partners, to help countries tackle their most complex challenges in the area of sustainable development. The practices and groups under his responsibility include Agriculture and Food; Climate Change; Environment, Natural Resources and Blue Economy; Environmental and Social Framework Implementation Unit; Social Development; Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience and Land; and Water.

Prior to this appointment, Dr. Voegele was Global Director of the World Bank's Climate Change Group and Senior Director of the World Bank's Agriculture and Food Global Practice. Dr. Voegele is chair of the CGIAR System Council Board, which oversees agricultural research programs tackling poverty, food and nutrition security, and improved natural resource management around the world. Since 2016, Dr. Voegele has served as co-chair of the Global Future Councils of the World Economic Forum. He is also a member of the EAT Foundation Advisory Board since May 2017.

Since joining the World Bank in 1991, Dr. Voegele has held several assignments, chairing the Agriculture and Rural Development Sector Board as well as the Environment Sector Board, leading the Agriculture Unit in China, the Agriculture and Rural Development Unit of the Europe and Central Asia Region, and the Agriculture and Rural Development Department of the World Bank (later recast as the Agriculture and Environmental Services Department). Career highlights include his leadership of the acclaimed Loess Plateau watershed management project in China and managing a multi-sectoral team that disbursed more than $1 billion for 70 projects in response to the global Avian influenza crisis. Those latter efforts were replicated during the 2008 global food crisis.

Dr. Voegele holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics and a Master’s in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Hohenheim, in Germany.

Mercy Tembon is Vice President and Corporate Secretary of the World Bank Group. In her role, Ms. Tembon’s primary responsibilities are to ensure the integrity of the World Bank Group’s governance framework; facilitate effective interaction and dialogue between the Board of Governors, Boards of Executive Directors and Management of the institution; contribute to consensus building among shareholders; and provide support services to the Boards, management and other clients.

Ms. Tembon brings to this position a deep knowledge of Bank operations, a track record in promoting economic growth and social development in several countries, and a reputation for developing strong partnerships with stakeholders. She also brings a unique combination of leadership experiences working at the country and sector levels, coupled with extensive multicultural experience of living in different countries. In recognition of her leadership, Ms. Tembon received the World Bank Group Diversity & Inclusion Leadership Award in 2010, and the Excellence in Leadership Award from the World Bank Group Staff Association in 2014.

A Cameroonian national, Ms. Tembon joined the World Bank in 2000 as an Education Specialist and has since held leadership positions in different countries. She served as the Country Director for the South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia) in the Europe and Central Asia region, and Country Manager for Burundi as well as for Burkina Faso in the Africa region. In her most recent role as the World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan, Ms. Tembon led the strategic dialogue and implementation of the World Bank Group's Country Partnership Framework in support of the development priorities of both countries.

Micaela Sánchez Malcolm is the Secretary of Public Innovation of Argentina since 2019. She holds a degree in Communication Sciences with a postgraduate degree in Design and Evaluation of Public Policies.

She has vast experience in research and teaching as she coordinated several undergraduate and postgraduate courses on ICTs, Digital Platforms and Digital and Political Communication at many national universities.

Priorly, she was in charge of the project on digital signature and digital management of judicial files in the Council of the Magistracy of the City of Buenos Aires. While in the private sector, she was in charge of the Communication and Development area of the i-ciudad Public Policy Institute and the Intercargo handling company.

Eliakim Chacha Maswi is a passionate leader with communication skills and a long track record of successfully management and leadership with 32 years’ working experience. Eliakim is highly educated  with extensive knowledge of  current regulatory issues and able to push performance improvement whilst at the same time delivering services. Possessing vast managerial and leadership experience and always ensure that clear objectives and expectations are delivered and maintained. Currently served as a Chief Executive Office of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority. Previously he served as Permanent Secretary, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Regional Administrative Secretary and Assistant Commissioner of Budget in various government institutions.

Charlotte van Ooijen is policy advisor and senior researcher on digital governance, data, digital trust and co-creation in the public sector. She is currently acting as associate director digital government and data at the Brussels-based thinktank the Lisbon Council. She is also and expert advisor to the Digital Trust Label by the Swiss Digital Initiative and co-author of the World Bank’s How-to-Note on interoperability in the public sector. Previously, she worked as a policy analyst at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) leading the analytical work on the data-driven public sector and contributing to several country reviews on digital government and (open) data.

Olga TUmuruc is leading the Moldova E-Governance Agency (MEGA), the institution that is engaged in streamlining the governance through intensive use of information technologies. The mission of MEGA is to bring leading technologies into the government, rethink processes, improve public services and make them work for the benefit of the citizens. Olga is heading the team towards the goal of ensuring transparent and efficient governance, responsive to the citizen’s needs, that can be achieved through smart investments in IT, their extensive use, but also through leveraging the potential offered by the E-Governance ecosystem.

In the field of digital governance, she has experience in managing the development of E-Governance solutions (interoperability, digital identity, digital payments, notification, electronic signing, etc.) and applying them to modernize public services, providing the capabilities of the e-Gov ecosystem to make public services more efficient, user-centric and convenient.

Head of North America and Deputy Permanent Observer of International IDEA to the United Nations.

“Dr. Annika Silva-Leander, Head of North America at International IDEA, oversees outreach, the Global Democracy Coalition, and Summit for Democracy support. Also Deputy Permanent Observer to the UN, she leads offices in Washington, DC and New York. As lead author of the Global State of Democracy report (2018-2021), she contributes to global democracy discussions. Previously, she was Head of the Democracy Assessment Unit in Stockholm, Senior Adviser to the Secretary-General of International IDEA, and a Social Development Specialist at the World Bank. Annika holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and is Swedish-Chilean.”

João began his career as a Higher Technician for the Ministry of Finance’s Department of Prospective and Planning, predicting trends and looking towards the future.

He led the Portuguese Agency for Investment and External Commerce’s (AICEP) Digital Transformation through his role as Executive Director; Introduced the payment App (ePark) and the electric bike sharing system (Gira) as Board Member for the Lisbon Municipal Enterprise for Mobility and Parking (EMEL); and was responsible for digital innovation as Board Member for Prio Energy and CEO of Prio Electric.

João Dias was appointed as President of AMA’s Director Council on September 1st, 2022.

Jerome Duperrut is Director for Economic Analysis and International Institutions at SICPA. The mission of SICPA is to enable trust by developing reliable, secure and technologically advanced solutions and services for identification, traceability and authentication. In this context, Jerome specializes in secure technologies to enhance domestic revenue mobilization and to reinforce the digitalization of revenue authorities, in particular in emerging and developing countries. He contributed to the World Bank Working Group on Mobile Government. He previously worked at the Swiss Federal Department of Finance and at the International Monetary Fund.

Engineer in Computer Science graduated from ENSIAS (National School of Computer Science and Systems Analysis), Sarah LAMRANI began her career as project manager in the Information Systems Department of TMSA (the Tangier Mediterranean Special Agency).

She then joined the cabinet of the Ministry of Industry, Trade, Investment and the Digital Economy in 2011, to ensure the PMO (Project management Office) of the Moroccan digital strategy “Maroc Numeric 2013”  and then the management of the e-Government program. In 2015, Sarah LAMRANI served as Information Systems Director at the Ministry of Administrative Reform, then Director of Studies, Communication and Cooperation within the same Ministry. Since February 2023, Sarah LAMRANI has been appointed General Secretary of the Ministry of Digital Transition and Administrative Reform.

Lula is a Research Scientist at MIT GOV/LAB where she studies technology in government, trust, and governance. She also specializes in policy evaluation using randomized controlled trials and quantitative methods.  Her previous experiences include serving as a Methods Specialist with the Office of Evaluation Sciences at the U.S. General Services Administration and as Program Manager at Sister Cities International. Lula holds a BSFS and MA in international affairs from Georgetown University. She received her PhD in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Donna Andrews is the Global Lead for public institutions reform in the Governance Global Practice at the World Bank, based in Washington DC. She has led the development of many global knowledge products including Tech Savvy: Advancing GovTech Reforms in Public Administration and is also one of the team leaders of the World Bank’s Future of Government initiative. She provides global intellectual and technical leadership in human resource management reform, public administration reform, institutional capacity strengthening and public sector employment reform.

Donna, an Australian national, joined the World Bank in 2015 and was based in Suva, Fiji where she led civil service and human resource management reforms across the East Asia and Pacific region. She now works with government clients across the world including in Africa, South Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Prior to joining the World Bank, she worked for the Queensland Government in Australia for more than 15 years including over a decade at the Public Service Commission in Queensland focused on strategic human resource management and public sector ethics and integrity. Donna is a Human Resource Management specialist and certified change management practitioner. She has Masters’ qualifications in Human Resource and Organizational Development, Business Administration and Professional and Applied Ethics.

Experienced digital policy practitioner and researcher from Ukraine
Visiting Fellow at the McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University
Director General of Directorate for European and NATO integration at Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine

Sarah Lister is UNDP’s Head of Governance and oversees policy and programme support to its governance portfolio globally, including electoral cycle support, parliamentary development, anti-corruption, information integrity, digital governance, legal identity, youth empowerment and disability inclusion. She has more than 25 years’ experience working on democratic governance, including civic engagement, media and communication, social accountability, public administration reform and governance measurement.

From 2015-2019 she was the Director of UNDP’s Oslo Governance Centre where she led the team bridging research, policy and practice on governance and peacebuilding in transitional contexts, with a particular focus on SDG16.  Among other positions, she has also worked for BBC Media Action, the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit in Kabul and the Institute of Development Studies, UK. She has lived and worked in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe. Sarah holds a PhD and MSc in Social Policy from the London School of Economics, and a BA in History from Cambridge University, UK.

Navroop Sahdev is the founder and CEO of The Digital Economist, a global impact organization with the mission to drive technological convergence toward a human-centered global economy. Along with the world’s most respected digital economists, in 2019 she co-authored “Blockchain Economics: Implications of Distributed Ledgers: Markets, Communications Networks, and Algorithmic Reality”, the first book on the economics of blockchain. She has co-authored Hyperledger’s "Blockchain for Business" online course which has trained close to 200,000 entrepreneurs globally, and counting.

Navroop is currently a Connection Science Fellow at the MIT Media Lab, part of a curated group of top scholars and entrepreneurs in emerging technologies with a track record of outstanding achievement, who are building the future of Distributed Ledger Technologies, Digital Identity and Digital Networks. She is also the founder and CEO of Rethink Markets, a global action-tank focused on the Economics of Emerging Technologies, with the mission to bridge the gap between scholarly economics and business applications.

A pioneering economist and technology futurist, Navroop’s work lies at the intersection of emerging technologies, economic science and business strategy. Navroop is frequently interviewed by Forbes as a subject matter expert on the economics of emerging tech and requested as a keynote speaker at industry conferences. She was listed as one of the Top Blockchain Influencers in 2018 by Media Shower. She holds three masters in IP Management, Economics of Innovation and Applied Economics. Previously, she has worked at Harvard University and the United Nations Environment Programme. In 2017, Navroop served as a United Nations Youth Delegate.

Ed Olowo-Okere, a Nigerian national with three decades of experience working on development issues around the world, is the Senior Advisor in the Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions (EFI) Vice Presidency at the World Bank. Previously he was the Global Director for the Governance Global Practice where he led the Practice to support client countries in building accountable, transparent, and inclusive institutions. 

Mr. Olowo-Okere joined the World Bank in 1998 and has held various positions in operations, including Director of Governance overseeing Africa, MENA and ECA regions, and Director of the Core Operational Services Department in the Africa region. Before joining the Bank, Ed held public- and private-sector positions in Nigeria, Britain, and New Zealand.

Ed holds a Bachelor of Science (First Class Honors) Degree in Accountancy from the University of Maiduguri and a Masters’ Degree in Accounting, with Distinctions, from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. He has a Ph.D. in Management with a specialization in Change Management and Public Financial Management from the University of Bath, United Kingdom. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). He has researched and published in reputable international journals and lectured at undergraduate and graduate levels in Nigeria and New Zealand on accounting and finance. 

Lennig Pedron is the CEO of the Trust Valley, a center of excellence in digital trust and cybersecurity in Switzerland driven by multiple actors from the public, private and academic sectors. Lennig works for the EPFL Innovation Park ,  as a director she is an expert in cybersecurity and emerging technologies. Co-founder and President of the NGO iCON, which she represents at the Council of Europe. She is a multi-independent board member. Judge of the Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge of Atlantic Council and a regular speaker at international level such as World Summit on the Information Society. Lennig is the co-author and preface of the book « Cyber Crisis Management » (ed. Ellipses 2022). 

Ginny Badanes leads Democracy Forward, an initiative within Microsoft’s Technology & Corporate Responsibility organization that is focused on addressing ongoing challenges to the stability of democracies globally. The program includes efforts to protect elections, political parties, campaigns, and NGOs from cyber-enabled threats. The Democracy Forward team also leads Microsoft’s work to improve the information ecosystem, which includes combating disinformation, expanding news distribution, increasing media literacy, and working with community-based programs and newsrooms to use technology to expand their reach.

Ginny has spent her career at the intersection of politics and technology. Before joining Microsoft in 2014, she was Vice-President of Political at CMDI, where she advised presidential and senate campaigns on their efforts to leverage data and technology to improve their finance and treasury operations.

Ginny was named to Washingtonian’s 2021 & 2022 “Most Influential People” list for national security and defense. She is a graduate of Duke University and currently lives in Arlington, VA with her husband, Dave, and their three boys.

Since he was 18, David has been the Executive Director of reAcción, a grassroots organisation that catalyses community innovation to fight corruption. His projects reformed national policies in education, healthcare, and public procurement. He designed and led the implementation of FOCO, an app that enables the real-time monitoring of the national investment in school infrastructure. He also led the development of Paraguay’s Healthcare Ministry’s official open data tool. He has consulted on social accountability, civic technology, and youth political participation for the World Bank, USAID, and International IDEA. David holds a Masters in Development Studies from The London School of Economics as a Chevening Scholar.

Aly is the GPSA Program Manager leading its strategies for collaboration with civil society and governments to improve accountability; he also serves as the World Bank’s Global Lead for Social Accountability and Citizen Engagement. He most recently served as Practice Manager for Social Sustainability and Inclusion for West Africa, where he and his team managed social impacts under the Bank’s new Environmental and Social Framework and established a $1 billion platform of multi-country community recovery projects to help stabilize conflict-affected zones across the subregion. Aly previously served as Assistant to the President of the World Bank Group where he coordinated a portfolio including CSO/stakeholder engagement, sustainable development, climate and conflict/fragility.

Aly started his career at the World Bank in 2004, and held social development roles in Africa, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia leading projects, and advisory/analytic work with a focus on participatory, community-driven and inclusive development programs. He has also served in the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, focusing on peacebuilding for Sudan and Afghanistan. Aly holds a Masters degree from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown and an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth in International Relations.

Steve Tae, Vice President, Global Cities at Mastercard supports the City Possible initiative where he collaborates with city governments to create more inclusive citizen engagement models. Through co-creation efforts, he leads the City Key platform globally, a payment program designed to help governments and local agencies unlock greater financial inclusion, community reach and engagement across a variety of segments

Prior to this role, he led public sector business development for Mastercard Data & Services in North America, and at Booz Allen Hamilton, where he helped clients solve their most pressing business challenges involving data and strategy.

Prior to his work in the public sector, he worked as a consultant for Accenture and A.T. Kearney.

He received his MBA and MA from the University of Chicago, an MS from Northwestern University and a BA from Indiana University

Daniel Medimorec is a senior expert in international relations and serves as the responsible Deputy Head of Unit within the Department for International Relations, Legal, E-Government-Strategy at the Austrian Ministry of Finance. Daniel is responsible for international cooperation in digitalization and e-government, bilateral and international matters and bilateral agreements, international benchmarking, and representation in international ICT and e-government-related bodies.

Karime Ruibal Faral serves as Director of Citizens Services since April 2017. She was Program Manager of “Tramites en línea”. Since joining the Agency in 2008, Mrs. Ruibal has managed several projects and programs like “Expediente Electrónico” and GRP that involved all the Ministries.

Prior to working at AGESIC she worked at the House of Representative, for 18 years, leadering a team of System Analysts, working in the process ditigalization of the legislative level.

She is Engineer in Computing Systems of the Universidad de la República since 1989 and a has a postgrade of Health Enterprise Administration of the Business School of the Universidad de Montevideo (1998). She has the PMP certification since 2006.

As Global Director for Gender, Hana Brixi leads a global effort to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. She sets the overall direction for the World Bank Group’s Gender knowledge agenda, drives Bank-wide efforts for results in closing gender gaps, and fosters partnerships with public and private sector stakeholders toward innovations at scale.

In her career, Ms. Brixi has contributed to advances in human development, public finance, and governance. As Manager of the Human Capital Project, she led a global effort to protect and invest in people with an emphasis on girls and women empowerment. Prior to this, she held managerial and leadership positions in the Social Protection & Jobs and Governance Global Practices and in the Middle East & North Africa, East Asia & Pacific, and Europe & Central Asia regions. Based in China during 2001-10, she also served as World Health Organization’s Manager and UNICEF Chief in China. 

Ms. Brixi has published articles in professional journals and written several books on economic development, including Trust, Voice and Incentives on service delivery and Government at Risk on fiscal management. She holds graduate degrees in physics and economic policy from Masaryk University and Princeton University, respectively.

Emily Middleton is a Partner at Public Digital. She leads the firm’s international practice, including programmes to support governments to strengthen their digital capabilities and accelerate inclusive service delivery. She also leads global research and convenings on topics including digital public finance and open source in government. Emily previously led the design of the London Office of Technology and Innovation (LOTI) at the Greater London Authority. She has also worked for UNICEF Innovation, the EU Delegation to Ethiopia and the Boston Consulting Group.

Kimberly Johns is the Global Lead for Govtech in the World Bank’s Governance Global Practice and Co-Task Team Leader of the World Bank Group’s GovTech Global Partnership. Her work focuses on whole of government digital transformation, digital governance, service delivery and citizen engagement. She has over 15 years of experience working on topics of technology and solutions development, institutional and policy reform. Since joining the World Bank Group in 2007, she has led investment projects focusing on e-government and service delivery in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East and has contributed to a number of reports targeting governance issues including administrative burden, accountability and corruption.

Before coming to the World Bank Group, Kimberly worked in the private sector as an ICT programmer and database administrator developing online applications in Chicago, Illinois. Kimberly holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration (specializing in Science, Technology and Information Policy and Research Methods) from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Master of Science in Public Service Management from DePaul University. She has published on topics of digital citizenship and has lectured at the graduate level on topics of policy design and analysis, policy implementation and research methods for public service.

Mr. Pham Thy Hung, the Director of Vietnam National E-Procurement Center, Public Procurement Agency, Ministry of Planning and Investment, is responsible for Vietnamese national e-Government procurement (e-GP), specifically e-GP project and pioneered ICT PPP projects in Vietnam. His main roles are being in charge of building, managing and operating the national e-GP system, handling procurement’s situation, managing drafting the e-GP’s policy for examples Investor selection decree, Circular providing details online bidding, and also participating in developing guidelines for online bidding such as: Circular No. 08/2022/TT-BKHĐT detailed provisions online bidding; Vietnam Procurement Law (online bidding chapter).

Having lived and studied in different countries, Anett has learned to appreciate the perks of living in a fully digital society. All processes and structures of public services should be accessible and simple to use.

Based on her academic background in Political Sciences and International Relations, she works  as the Head of Government Relations in Estonia's Governmental Innovation Lab- Accelerate Estonia. Anett focuses on enhancing an excellent collaboration between the public and private sector to create a comprehensive, supportive environment and more sustainable future.

She has worked as a Digital Transformation Adviser in e-Estonia Briefing Centre and advised governments around the world based on Estonian experience. Anett also worked as a Cyber Defence Policy Adviser at the Ministry of Defence of Estonia with the main focus on building a substantial collaboration between different countries in countering and tackling cyber threats.

Renaud Seligmann is the Director for Strategy and Operations of the Sustainable Development Practice Group.

A French national, Mr. Seligmann joined the Bank in 2007 as a Senior Financial Management Specialist in the Africa Region. He held various positions, including Public Financial Management Sector Leader and Practice Manager in the Governance Global Practice, both in the Africa Region. He served as the World Bank’s Country Director for the Russian Federation from 2019 to 2022.

Prior to this, Mr. Seligmann served as Practice Manager in the Governance Global Practice in the Middle East and North Africa Region. He has also overseen the Digital Governance Community of Practice.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Mr. Seligmann worked at the United Nations Board of Auditors and at the French Court of Accounts.

Mr. Seligmann graduated from The Queen’s College, Oxford, and undertook post-graduate studies at Sorbonne University (Paris), the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences-Po Paris) and the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (Paris and Strasbourg).

Currently serving as the National Director for State Modernization (DNME) of Cape Verde, João Cruz was previously the Manager of the Casa do Cidadão Management Unit (UGCC), where he oversaw integrated services of the public administration (in-person, online, and audio) between 2019 and 2022. João Cruz served as a Network, Communication, and Security Administrator at the Interbank and Payment Systems Society (SISP) since 2011, where he designed and implemented the first Certification Entity to operate in Cape Verde. João Cruz holds a Master's degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Aveiro, and he is certified as a Lead Auditor for ISO9001:2015 and ITIL Foundation. In 2020, João Cruz coordinated the granting of the Digital Governance Strategy for Cape Verde (EGDCV), and in 2022, he oversaw EGDCV’s Action Plan.

Sérgio Arnaldo Mapsanganhe is the Deputy Director General at INAGE,IP – National eGovernance Institute, Mozambique. He works in eGovernment since 2009, on a number of projects and initiatives towards the modernization of Public Administration and implementation of digital technologies to citizen and private sector in Mozambique, including the drafting of pieces of legislation and policy documents.

He has an interest and experience in topics such as information systems, interoperability, digital certification, cyber security, cloud computing, ICT infrastructure, data centers, emerging technologies and digital transformation.

I'm a Telecom Engineer with Master's in Scientific Computing, worked in different positions in and out of government starting as a Core Network Engineer in Dubai, then moved back home to join MTIT as the Spectrum Management Director and then as Telecom Regulatory Affairs DG before taking over as PMU director which was established through the DWBG Project which I'm implementing now.

Anir Chowdhury is the Policy Advisor of the government of Bangladesh’s flagship digital transformation programme Aspire to Innovate (a2i) at the ICT Division/Cabinet Division, supported by UNDP. He leads the formation of a whole-of-society innovation ecosystem through massive technology deployment, extensive capacity development, integrated policy formulation, whole-of-government institutional reform, and an Innovation Fund.

He is a member of the Prime Minister’s Smart Bangladesh Task Force, Education Minister’s National Blended Education Task Force, Global Digital Inclusion Partnership’s Advisory Council, Programme Committee of UN World Data Forum. He is a Deputy Champion of WEF’s EDISON Alliance and Co-Founder and Board Member of South-South Network for Public Service Innovation (SSN4PSI). A serial entrepreneur in the US and Bangladesh, Anir studied at Brown, Harvard, Columbia, Boston, Bradford, and Oxford universities.